Again I found this last week for 50 cents in a local thrift store. It was released by a group of Berlin communists in support of the Chilean people who were massacred by the military Junta in 1974. The Chilean coup d´état of General Pinochet was a major political cause to fight against for the political left. In Eastern-Germany it was state-policy.

Chile Venceremos (we shall overcome) is a folk song but the singing is very similar to that of Ton Steine Scherben, Germany´s most radical-leftist Krautrock group. It features some cool commie lyrics about overthrowing the capitalist system and fighting violently to the end…

I bought this last week for 50 cents in a thrift store. Gerald Mann is still working in Berlin today as is Jerry Roschak and the troupe of the Berlin cabaret Klimperkasten.This record hasn´t been re-released in almost 30 years and I don´t think it ever will.

I really like the song Vorbei (past). It´s from one of the many Klimperkasten cabaret plays and has the singers reminiscing about past times. It gets interesting when they get to the memories of their idealistic political ideas of the 60´s.

If there ever was an incredibly strange German record, this is it. Last week it had my friends, at the small pizza place where we get together every Tuesday to hang out and spin records, shaking their heads in disbelief.

Nevertheless this is a very brave private pressing and I´m not going to make fun of it. This record is much more courageous than any Punk record I own and I own thousands.

The record looks and sounds like it was recorded around 1990. Anytime from 1988 to 1992 is my guess. Der Wirklichkeit entrückt ( I´m detached from reality) is about a forbidden love but doesn´t go into detail why it is. Wir zwei (the two of us) is another love song where again both lovers are “detached from reality”.

Happy Easter everyone! It´s springtime and finally Berlin is nice and sunny. Too bad I have to stay in all the time to work but I´m not complaining. It did not leave too much time to work on this blog though and I hope I´ll do better this month. So far it doesn´t look like it.

Found this 45 in a record store for 1 Euro a couple of weeks ago. It´s a little embarrassing but the fact that I bought it tells a lot about me. Apart from the much saner image that I might have of myself, I really do seem to be one of those “completist” collectors. I would buy any record Bernhard Frank made, even if it was really, really bad.

And this is bad. Oh man, Bernhard Frank, what did you think?!! This is a long way from his cool stuff. Then again I really like this record too. Non-German speaking people might miss some of the meaning, but there are some pretty funny lines in Eingeladen (Invited to the party of Dieter and Susi). The b-side Mit anderen Worten ( In other words) is pretty standard German Schlager fare but I still feel that Bernhard Frank can do no wrong. Bernhard Frank only wrote good songs, even if they were bad.

The local Berlin Hansa label was founded in 1964 by Christian Bruhn and the sons of Will Meisel Thomas and Peter Meisel. In 1973 they started a sub-label to promote artists and music that were a little more off-the-beaten-path than their mainstream material: der andere song (The other song).

The sleeve was designed by popular cartoonist Arne (Arne Leihberg, 1912- 1988), longtime contributer to the biggest Berlin newspaper.

Eingeladen is bad, but good bad. Simply very, very catchy, so beware: listen at your own risk. You´ll have a hard time getting the song out of your ears again…

A record that was given to visitors of the Hotel Berlin. The song boasts how “There is only one Hotel Berlin in Berlin“, but there doesn´t seem to be anything remarkable about this bland concrete building. I guess the hotel really needed the advertisement.

Today it´s gone, at least I couldn´t find it. The cartoon on the back of the sleeve, illustrating the fitness-fashion of the 70´s, was again done by Ane.

Werner Hass was a successful East-German singer who started recording together with his sister Ilse in the late 40´s. He recorded an early German version of Shake Rattle and Roll (Simsalabim), in 1956 but after getting banned from East-German stages in 1958 he immigrated to West-Germany and continued his career.

Werner Hass did another advertisement record that I posted here. The song Trimmen is about a guy who refuses to do sports and gets drunk instead. Here´s a fitness related clip:

About me:
My name is Andreas Michalke. I´m a cartoonist from Berlin, Germany and I like collecting records. Most of the records I find in thrift stores or at flea markets here in Berlin. I like a lot of music but I thought I`d focus on odd German records. Preferably with cartoon covers.
All my scans are high-resolution. If you double-click on them they will get much bigger.

1. I will not use material, that is already available in digital format elsewhere.

2.The artists I present are either anonymous or pseudonymous or dead or no longer active.

3. I feel that if nobody has cared to reissue a record in 50 years, it is fair to present it.

Note: Please don´t ask for re-ups. I don´t have time for that. What´s gone is gone.